We have a local seller buying in another state. Her lender (first time I ever heard of it) not only wanted her to sign 4506, but also her to contact the IRS to get her transcripts. She did. Then last week she got a phone call on both her home and cell phone. It was the same person on each line telling her they were the IRS and that her recent call had triggered an audit. They followed up with the audit showed she owed $12,000.

They told her to NOT disconnect the cell phone call and go to the bank and withdraw $2000 in cash. To then drive to walmart and wire the money to specific account. She said she told them she knew it was a scam and she was going to hang up. The then threatened that if she hung up that the IRS would arrive in minutes to take her to jail.

She drove to the bank.She withdrew the money. But instead of driving to Walmart to wire the money she drove to the local sheriff's office. She explained quietly (while pretending to be in line waiting to wire the money). The sheriff's department then got on her phone. They of course hung up, but she sheriff department called them right back.

It was a Dallas phone number. An on line search says it's a land line. It's in the hands of law enforcement now. But she was afraid and almost scammed out of $2000.

THE IRS DOES NOT CALL YOU. THEY DO NOT AUDIT YOU WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. DO NOT FALL FOR THIS.

I'd heard about it on the news and though, who would fall for this. But to hear it first hand from my client who was alone, afraid and had just called the IRS which the caller seemed to know.

Comments

Tammy great post and glad she went to the Sheriffs Department instead of the Bank... there are so many variations of this same BS...glad that they are working on eliminating one of the millions....Endre

Tammy Lankford - Thank goodness the local seller didn't get scammed. Although it could be a coincidence, it's suspect that the call came in right after she'd contacted the IRS. A shady IRS employee, perhaps?

Endre Barath, Jr. she went to the bank, but not to walmart to wire the money. She was so close. They said such threatening things to her too. She was very afraid.

Jill Murty, Realtor - Serving Orange County, CA or bank employee? And yes, that's my Glen. as I was writing the post he had dropped a stuffed toy at my feet. I just wore him out fetching it and now he's sleeping soundly.

Alan Kirkpatrick me too. She got very close.

Praful Thakkar I've had someone try to fool me they worked for "microsoft" and that something was wrong with my computer they needed to fix. HA, I have a mac.

Tammy - It is just sad to hear how people are threatening others in order to scam them out of their money. I wish there was more the police could do in these instances. Usually they don't do much at all, and the scams continue to work their numbers until they find someone who will pay. Thanks for sharing this info.

Jill Murty, Realtor - Serving Orange County, CA he is a big mess. Mostly a very gentle giant lap dog. But also super protective of his family.

Troy Erickson she was literally just shaking. She actually stopped by our office the following day to tell us. I showed her how to Google IRS scam and all the informtion she could have quickly found on line. Even a Google search of the phone number resulted in showing it was a scam.

Patricia Kennedy the problem is generally that the call is routed through a us number via a computer and generally made from someone outside the U.S. and nothing can be done. And knowing how close she got I feel sure that others fall for this locally and all over the country.

Joe Petrowsky I'd always wondered "how it happens" "how people fall for it", but when she told me how they threatened her and how frightened she became I can understand. It's not a local decision to pay the money, it's an emotional one.

Wayne Martin oh wouldn't that be nice, but that would "viloate their rights" if we still made inmates do hard labor. (and sadly I know first hand how stupid the system is because I have a family member working in it and trust me, the inmates have all the rights, the employees none of them)

Debbie Gartner I know someone was sent to the place where the land line was after a coordinated effort from our and their LEO, but I think it netting in their number being used as a spoof number which likely means that number won't be used anymore and they are out of the country. It really sucks. And if someone wasn't tipped off it was a odd coincidence. And perhaps she mentioned it in their conversation and they played on that. She was frightened and may not remember everything she told them.

Kat Palmiotti very sad. And it really irks me they tend to prey on older people and you can go on line and find out how old occupants are with a few clicks of a mouse.

Tammy, we know the IRS is tough and will eat our young but they do not go about it that way. There is so much hacking taking place it would not surprise me if the scammers are getting information from data originated by requests for tax returns.

Tammy Lankford that is incredible story of your client driving directly to the sheriff's office. There was a recent IRS fraud case reported in the LATimes where the perp is getting 15 years in prison. They used similar tactics, threatening to put people in jail if they didn't pay up, and of course, they were just a call center somewhere pretending to be the IRS. You're right, the IRS will let you know via mail.

That scam has been reported in this area recently as well. Glad she didn't fall for it. i hope cops can track them down and arrest them.

Posted by Jeff Pearl, Full Service Full Time Realtor (RE/MAX Distinctive / LIC in VA) about 3 years ago

Yup, these people have gotten in the millions of dollars. They also are very good about making their out of country number look like it's coming from VA or TX. There's also another scam where they call and say they're from microsoft and you have a virus on your computer then they request access to the network. Older folks usually fall victim to this. They get all their passwords and bank account info

Although, sometimes it may be difficult to tell the difference between organized crime and the government, there is a difference and thank you for pointing it out. THE IRS DOES NOT CALL YOU. THEY DO NOT AUDIT YOU WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE.